Many Unity College students have become active leaders in the outdoors through their involvement in the scouting program.

At Unity there are a number of Eagle Scouts through the Boy Scouts of America as well as Gold Award recipients through the Girl Scouts of America. More often than not, these students acknowledge that their experience with scouting and their decision to come to Unity are interconnected.

Samantha McGarrigle ‘17 is a Wildlife Biology student who received the Gold Award in Girl Scouts. She claims that the program helped her choose Unity College because she realized that after visiting many schools, she wanted to be able to pursue a field that she was interested in and wanted to be able to do so in a close knit community.

“Being a part of Girl Scouts gave me the chance to discover what I could do with my life,” said McGarrigle. “On one of my trips with the troop, we visited a zoo and a hatchery, and that is when I realized that I wanted to work with animals through some form of conservation. Later, when I was researching colleges I knew that with the combination of the major and the feel of the campus, Unity College would be the perfect place for me.”

“Through Scouting, I learned the principles of ‘Leave no Trace’ and to respect the outdoors,” said Kyle Lee ‘17 an Eagle Scout who is studying Conservation Law Enforcement. That “Leave No Trace” ideology is also in alignment with the blah of Unity College. Lee added the values that were instilled and life skills he has learned in Eagle Scouts are in line with his college experience at Unity and will likely follow him throughout his career.

Michael Rossi ‘17, an Environmental Policy, Law, and Society major, and also an Eagle Scout, believes that his experience in the scouting program is what led him to choose Unity College. “Being a Scout gave me the chance to serve the community and become interested in the environment through camping trips and also led me to develop an appreciation for the natural world,” said Rossi. “Unity College is an extension of what I learned to value through scouting and being a student here allows me to continue those aspects of community involvement as well as feeling connected to the environment and nature.”

Approximately five percent of Unity student body population is made up of Eagle Scouts and Gold Award winners. These students are proud to represent the scouting program and continue to be committed to the natural world through Unity College’s unique environmental focus.